How to Get Sponsored by Alpinestars

Alpinestars outfits athletes at the top of nearly every form of motorsports: Formula 1 teams, NASCAR and IndyCar drivers, MotoGP and motocross champions, off-road legends like Travis Pastrana, Brian Deegan and Ricky Johnson. That makes it one of the most sought-after sponsors in racing, and one of the hardest to land. Heath Cofran, who works in media and company communications at Alpinestars, has joined my Sponsorship Summits several times. He isn't the person who signs athletes, so before one session he went to the brand's athlete managers in the U.S. and Europe and asked them what they look for. Here is what they told him.

Sponsorship is about influence

Cofran starts with the business. "What is Alpinestars' goal as a brand? What are we here to do? We're here to sell products," he said. "When it comes to sponsorships, right, sponsorship is about influence." ▶ Watch Heath Cofran explain this

The brand also prefers a different word. "We like to say support instead of sponsoring, because you're supporting each other," Cofran said. Alpinestars develops a lot of its products with athletes, and it wants its gear "worn on people that are super passionate about what they do. We understand our products aren't the cheapest, but your body is worth more than a cheap brand." ▶ See the full answer

On a motocross panel he explained why influence matters so much. Kids at the track cheer for Alpinestars riders like Jett and Hunter Lawrence and Eli Tomac, and the hope is that "when they go buy their gear and they're gearing up, they got the Alpinestars helmet on, they got the gear, they got the boots, they got the gloves." ▶ Watch the clip

Free gear has to be earned

Alpinestars is a high-performance brand, and Cofran is direct with racers who just want product. "If you're looking for free stuff, what is your influence? What is your presence to bring that to the brand? Where is your value for us to say, here's some free gear or here's a discount?" The answer, he said, comes from "results... your personality... your personal brand." ▶ Watch the clip

Speed alone won't do it. "If you're a fast driver and you have a bad attitude, or you're a fast driver and you get in fights, or you're a fast driver and no one wants to work with you, kind of says right there what value do you bring to a brand," he said. Alpinestars wants someone who can explain the product, who will say, in his example, "this is the new GP Tech suit, I really love it, it's super lightweight." Those are the people "we see value in, because you're driving people to go buy the product." ▶ See the full answer

Alpinestars scouts, and it's watching your pit

Alpinestars' athlete managers go looking for talent, starting young. At Loretta Lynn's, Cofran said, the brand's U.S. team manager notices kids who keep winning, and then watches what happens off the bike. "What does he do when he gets off the track? What does his pits look like? Does he have a real professional setup? Is he really focused? Is he together?" The brand looks for "the championship mentality," even in a young rider. ▶ Watch Cofran on how Alpinestars scouts

For amateurs, results matter, "but it's also not just that. A lot of it comes down to your personal brand," including what people at the track say about you and your family. Once a relationship starts, communication decides whether it grows: "Is it giving us an opportunity to help support, or is it, hey, I just want free stuff?" ▶ Watch the clip

Presentation counts in car racing too. "How are you set up at a race? Do you have banners set up? Is it a really nice layout? Do you take the time and have a good presentation? All those things matter," Cofran said. Alpinestars doesn't attend many amateur races, "but word travels to us." ▶ Watch the clip

Your social media is part of the audition

Before Alpinestars commits, it researches you. "What's their social media look like? What does their website look like? What does their YouTube look like?" Cofran said. "How much real engagement is there? Are you paying for followers?" A racer who walks fans through a new suit on a live stream is valuable, he said, because those followers may buy their first suit "because this is what you wear." ▶ See the full answer

Quality matters more than volume. In motocross alone, Alpinestars gets tagged in "5,000 a day. Do we share all of those? Absolutely not. So there is a quality to the share." His advice: look at what Alpinestars actually shares and mimic that standard. And don't tag every sponsor on one post. "Is that value to us? Absolutely not." ▶ Watch Cofran on what Alpinestars shares

The athletes Alpinestars likes best also send their sponsors updates with photos the brand can use, and they help out at the end of the day. "Open and great communication is number one," he said, noting that Alpinestars is a family-owned business and wants athletes who fit that family vibe. ▶ Watch the clip

Start with your local dealer

Asked what a deal looks like, Cofran described a ladder. For grassroots racers, he'd begin with an Alpinestars dealer. "You build a relationship at the dealership level. It's an Alpinestars dealer, you're friends with that dealer, maybe they help pay for some entry fees." That's how he started racing motorcycles himself. If you promote the dealer, "the dealer says to Alpinestars, hey, this driver is doing really good with us." ▶ Watch Cofran on what a deal looks like

From there it scales. Alpinestars has occasionally supported an amateur with a discount, offers team deals where some gear is free and some is paid, and at the factory level allocates gear each season. "The first thing is discounts, and then it kind of tiers up to FOC," free of charge, he said. ▶ See the full answer

Know where Alpinestars plays

Alpinestars supports karting, flat track, MotoGP, NASCAR, F1 and the ladder series below it, along with youth programs like the Red Bull Rookies Cup. Drag racing is the exception. "As you said, drag racing, no, we don't really do anything in the form of drag racing," Cofran said. Many of its athletes have been with the brand since they were very young, and the things that get a young racer noticed are "the stepping stones to get recognized by a team, whether it be Alpinestars or anybody else." ▶ Watch the clip

Your checklist for Alpinestars

• Wear and understand Alpinestars gear, and be able to explain why it's better.
• Run a clean, professional pit, and behave like a champion off the track.
• Build a real, engaged following. Don't buy followers.
• Post high-quality content Alpinestars would want to share, and study what it shares.
• Start with your local Alpinestars dealer and earn a recommendation.
• Communicate often, send photo updates, and never make it about free stuff.